Police open investigation into attempted fraud of 98-year-old man

Ottawa Police say they're looking into a fraud attempt last week that left a 98-year-old man and his family in shock.

Glen Currie received a call from a fraudster last Thursday who alleged his grandson was hurt and that he needed money.

Even though an astute bank teller stopped swooped in to save the day, police say this particular case deserves a second look.

It sounds like one of a stacking number of reports of grandparent scams received by police every year.

Staff Sgt. Stephanie Burns, who is in charge of the Property and Enterprise Crime Section told CFRA this case is out of the ordinary.

It's not every day that a fraudster sends a driver to pick the victim up from home and drive them to the bank.

"That is very troubling for me because it's an extremely bold move on the part of the offender," said Burns. "At this point we don't know if the person who did the driving is related to the fraud or if that's somebody who was brought in as a driver."

She said officers will review video surveillance tapes from the bank in an attempt to identify the driver.

"Potentially there are some investigative leads that we may be able to look at in an attempt to identify this person," she said. "He's obviously somebody we're interested in speaking with to determine what his role is. We're just very fortunate that he returned the gentleman back to his residence unharmed and that no money was taken from him."

Burns said due to the volume of the work they have, they normally can't follow up on every attempted fraud, but she is encouraging people who are victims to file a report with police.

Currie's son Stan told CFRA that when he originally called police last week, he was told there would likely not be an investigation because no money was stolen.

When CFRA contacted police about the crime this week, officers decided to take a closer look at the case.

Stan Currie said he was glad the police decided to open an investigation, saying he hoped the culprit or culprits will be caught.

There was likely to be many frustrated O-Train users Tuesday morning after service on the Trillium Line was suspended as of 6a.m. OC Transpo says Bus Route 107 is running instead until further notice.
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